Easterly served in the U.S. Army for twenty years earning two bronze stars over the course of her service. She rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and served in the NSA as part of the agency’s cryptologic services group stationed in Baghdad and then worked with the agency’s elite Tailored Access Operations unit.Â
Why They Made the Worthy 100: Easterly is the first woman to be elected as head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). In 2022, due mainly to Easterly’s leadership, the agency released its first comprehensive 2023-2025 CISA Strategic Plan, the first since the organization was established in 2018. Facing a complex and evolving cyber-threat landscape, the highly complex program ensures that the U.S. can effectively respond against a never-ceasing cascade of digital dangers and do so at scale.
